I Guess Tomorrow Will Be a Sad Day

  Well guys looks like my once in a lifetime hunting dog will be off to the big duck pond in the sky with all her buddy's.

  She has had an enlarged heart and fluid on her lungs, we have been keeping her on meds for quite awhile now,not to mention Zubrin for her joints and Proin for a leak here and there. She's been a happy camper for a long time but I guess it's finally gotten the best of her even the strong gotta rest sometime,right. It's hard to not be selfish and try to keep her just a little while longer. Never in 50 years have I had a dog like this.

  If ya'all don't mind I'd like to share a story of a hunt with her that she really put me in my place and made me one of the proudest guys in the field one day.

  We were hunting Pheasants one fall day and it was her first time ever for any type of upland bird. We were guest's of a buddy on his club,who had sent to Germany for this great shorthair and then paid to have it professionally trained. (Not getting down on Shorthairs,I know some great ones) . Everyone there had those nice O/U's and heres Kim and I with my old Winchester Mod 120 pump,yes we looked like outsiders for sure.

  As we were walking through the field  we shot a few roosters and the dogs were doing their thing,of course a Lab is no contest for a German shorthair fully trained. Well we walked passed a culvert that ran under a road and Kim  locked on to it after all the hunters and dogs had passed and they started yelling at me and my Lab to get going and keep up,well with all my proding and knothead slurrs at Kim she would not budge,so over come some of the others to laugh and carry on,I remember my bud saying if there was a bird around anywhere his dog would have gotten it up. Well I got down on my knees and looked down the culvert and there at the other end was a nice big rooster which we never did get but boy did I feel like a dumbass for yelling at and being embarassed at my Lab,meanwhile the guy who's no longer my buddy is yelling and cursing at his dog and dragging him back to the truck.

  Me and Kim were asked to come on back to the clubhouse for lunch and a few beers and Kim got more table scraps that day than she ever has and we got told how funny it was to see the look on my buddy's face when we saw the rooster in that culvert. I never doubted her again. From that day on I hunted with her not her with me.

  Thanks for letting me have a place to write this,it helps alot. The BSB is alot more than just a place on the web.

Some dogs are pets, some are hunters, others are just guard dogs. The ones you really miss are part of the family. A few years ago our old chocolate lab passed away. We planted a a willow tree on her ashes. The tree really took off and is a pleasant remider of her every time I look at it.

DD

  Your right Wingman I could write a book about this pup.  Like the time she took off while we were sitting in our blind and was gone too long and then we heard the guy in the next blind over screaming at some dog,"Hey Bring Back Those Ducks". 10 min. later here she came with two green heads. Of course we gave them back and gave her a good talking to,after we quit laughing so hard we hurt.

  And the time I shot a bird on the way into our blind and crippled it she was gone for so long I got really worried,but she came back freezing to death with that dumb bird locked in her mouth.

  Theres alot more to these stories but I can't ,well ya know.

  Thanks Guys

Tikka,

   Been there with miss'n a dog, just remember that when you call her name out in the next week or so it's because you had a good dog... not all men are so lucky, be glad for it.  In the end I think thats all a good dog wants is a good bond, and a happy master.. sounds like you held up yer part of the bargin.

Spot

Tikkabuck,
That reminds me of a dog that owned me back some time ago.

Rusty was a very "Birdy" German shorthair Pointer that when he locked on point you could assure yourself there was always a Bird there.

When I took him out the first time to actually Hunt with him we were crossing an Alfalfa Field with a patch of scrub Briars around an Old dead Oak tree. We were Hunting accross the field when Rusty ran over to check out the Brush and He immediately locked on Point.

We approached and Nothing happened so We started Kicking the Brush around the tree and still nothing took off.

I made him Break off and Come with us but when we got Fifty yards away from the tree he decided he's going Back.

Needless to say I was not a Happy camper and went back to get him.

He was locked on Point, so I broke open my shotgun and when I went to snap his lead onto his Collar the air erupted with TWO TURKEYS leaving the Briars without as much as a "See you Later Stupid".

from that day forth I never doubted him.

I lost Rusty to Cancer when He was Twelve years old in 2000 and my Heart is still broken. Having him put down was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, in fact my Wife took him because I couldn't do it.

Even though I have two New Shorthairs,  Rusty was my True Friend and I miss him terribly.

I offer my sincerest condolences on your loss.

Tikka, As the owner of 2 labs myself, my condolences on your plight.

 I had a panic today when I took mine to the vet and the two year old slipped his collar as I tried to get him in the door. He ran right out into the street. Luckily traffic was light and a guy grabbed him about half block away as I sprinted up the street after him. There but for the grace of God....

A dog owners prayer: God let me be half the man my dog thinks I am.